Join us for a week of fun and learning on the Farm while using the Big Ideas of Sustainability to inspire your curriculum with fresh ideas. We’ll use lots of hands-on activities, protocols, and shared learning to examine how these ideas can instill a deep love and appreciation for the natural world in both you and your students. Rediscover your own curiosity and joy by connecting with peers, engaging with our farmyard, forest, lake and wetlands, and learning practical activities and pedagogy you can easily employ in your own place.

While we use the Farm as a teaching tool, we have crafted this experience to support a variety of rural, suburban and urban providers and ways to utilize your community as a vital resource in your program. In order to enhance our shared learning, we use an assortment of protocols to deepen understanding and provide opportunities for rich conversation.

We look forward to this week every year because no program is the same and it brings together a wonderful community of learners from all over who share, inspire, and support each other.

Workshop Goals:

Build knowledge of developmentally appropriate place based learning

Participate in professional protocols to share learning between peers and facilitators.

Use Shelburne Farms campus to explore different ecosystems (farm, forest, lake & wetland) to support curriculum development utilizing the natural world

Increase capacity to integrate farm to early education and education for sustainability into the classroom curriculum

Words from Past Participants

“This was a wonderful experience - thank you so much! It was truly inspiring being on the farm & in the forest - having the time for these experiences and time for self reflection. It was the perfect mix of doing, listening & thinking.”
— Kira

“This experience at Shelburne Farms brought me a sense of joy that has been unmatched previously. I feel a renewed sense of wonder as well as hope.”
— Naomi

“This was more about exploring the community “place” as a resource - beyond just nature and the environment - is also about the connections with the people in the community. People are more than their jobs.”
— Gail